Outer Space
by Jasmine-Now-Leaves
Summary: Remember Sam's Bond Map? Here is him ticking off the outer space portion on if. Also I noticed that Sam never mentions his father, so I included him in this. Hope you enjoy.


The episode in which Sam talks about his Bond map jolted this into my head. The characters are the creation of Shane Brennan.

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><p>Callen watched as Sam hurried out to spend the weekend with his family. It was one of the few times that his birthday fell on a weekend so Callen had gone to Hetty and asked on his behalf if he could have a half day on Friday.<p>

He thought back to Sam's 'Bond Map'. Iceland and Outer Space. They were the only two places left on that map. The newest Bond Movie had taken place mostly in Scotland and England, places that they had already worked in. He knew that eventually, work would take them to Iceland, but Outer Space? That was a different story. He thought about the contacts he had made over the years and looked up the ones he could using the Internet. After several hours of looking he gasped as one contact that owed him a massively huge favour popped up on his screen.

He sat back, thinking things over, looking at every angle, mentaly pulling pieces into place for it to work. As he read the webpage, his thoughts drifted toward Abby Scutio. He picked up the phone and dialled the number the young forensic scientist had left him.

"Forensics," came the young voice of the perky woman who ruled the lab.

Callen chuckled as the woman abruptly started rousing on a piece of equipment. "Abby?" he called in case she forgot that she had someone on the line.

"Callen?!" his name was followed by a crash of metal as she knocked something over, twisting back to the phone that she had put onto speaker. "What are you doing calling me?"

"Can't an old friend call to say hello?"

"Oh, well yeah. So how are you?" she sounded a little muffled, as she bent down to pick up what she had knocked off.

"I'm good. You looking for a new piece of artwork for your wall?" Callen knew that Abby liked to take a crime scene photo and get a portion of it blown up and hang it. Last time it was a spatter pattern that she had squashed close together.

"Why, you found something?" Abby had come back to the phone at that.

"Not yet, but I hear you are researching what gravity does to blood and how a lack of it could alter findings." Callen liked to keep up on such events, let the others think they know something he doesn't.

"How do you know that?" she had mentioned it to "Gibbs."

"He mentioned that you wanted to prove that the sudden turbulence and weightlessness caused by a plane dropping could be the same as being in space and that blood patterns were unreliable because they didn't have gravity acting on them. Something about a case last month where a marine was killed while the plane was in bad turbulence and the results were inconclusive because you couldn't replicate how the blood ended up where it did."

"Why are you asking?" Abby had sat down as Callen spoke, wondering where he was going with this.

"Because I think I may have found a way for you to prove what happened." He held the phone away from his ear at the shriek that assaulted him.

"You can get me into space?" Her conspiracy side thinking about everything she could do.

"Not quite space, but close enough to be able to feel zero gravity and see what it can do to your blood patterns."

"Oh my God. Really?" she jumped on the spot, then stopped as a thought crossed her mind, "What's the catch?"

"Sam and I have to be with you, and you have to come to LA." Another squeal sounded over the line.

"LA, really? Oh you have to clear it with Vance and Gibbs; the latter will be easier than the former though."

"I'll work on the Director if you tell Gibbs." Callen knew that Gibbs wouldn't be worried about the young Goth that had become like a daughter to him to come to harm when she was with Callen. Director Vance, on the other hand, now that was a different story. After letting Abby know when he planned to do it, he called the director. It went easier than he thought. Apparently Gibbs had been bugging him about the fact that Abby was onto something and that the killer had walked free.

After getting the ok, Callen called his contact.

The phone rang exactly three times before the man picked up. "Patterson." The voice had a trace of German to it.

"And here I was hoping that I had called Kluse." Callen said, using the man's actual name in the hope that he would know who he was dealing with.

"Shiza!" the man swore in German. "Callen?" Kluse had thought that the man had died and it showed in his voice.

"The same, you know that favour you owe me?" Callen leaned back in his chair, feet up on the table.

"What of it?" Kluse sounded like he wanted to be anywhere else in the world then on the phone to Callen.

"I'm calling it in."

"What do you want?"

"Your new toy for an afternoon to run some forensic tests, free of charge. In return you have the knowledge that you helped solve a murder and a good word from a government agency if everything goes to plan." He knew that adding that last part needed to be discussed with Vance, but he was sure if it all worked out, it would be there.

Kluse thought it over few minutes as past experience with Callen had taught him not to take too long. He would lose a fair amount of money but the public knowledge that his business had helped solve a crime and that a government agency would put in a good word won him over. "Deal, when do you want it?"

"Next week."

"I have an opening on Wednesday." Kluse wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. Then he thought about something. "After this, we even?"

Callen thought a moment. The man owed him a lot, including some of the money that Kluse had no doubt used to start his venture. "This will make it close. I know you have a fleet of planes so I may call on you to use them in the future, then we'll be even." He knew that a man like Kluse was a good man to have on call if you needed to get out of a country in a hurry. He heard Kluse sigh as he realised that he was still tied to Callen. "Cheer up, this is the first time I've called you in ten years, it might be the last."

Wednesday arrived sunny and hot. Callen had managed to get Sam in the car and blindfolded without too many questions. Mainly because Hetty had told him to. After a quick pit stop to pick up Abby, who somehow managed to stay quiet, they travelled about three hours to his old contacts business. With the huge rise in interest in space travel since the space program ended, any one with the money and technology built planes to give people the opportunity to get into space; even if only for a brief period.

Sam asked questions the whole time, but was ignored by Callen and the mystery person that judging from the perfume was female. Sam had a good judge of time from his SEAL training and guessed that three hours at least had passed when Callen slowed the car and the woman in the back let out a sigh.

"State your name and business." The guard at the gate asked when Callen stopped beside him. After being given the purpose of the visit, he checked the logs and found them. He opened the gate and allowed Callen in.

"G, can I take this off now?" Sam asked.

"Go ahead Sam and look out your window." Callen watched as his best friend did just that then spun to him.

"What is this?" Sam had a fairly good idea, but he wanted to be sure.

"This is you crossing Outer Space off your Bond map." As Sam's jaw dropped he continued, "Happy Birthday Sam." He then climbed out and went behind the car.

"Happy Birthday for last Saturday Sam." The voice from behind him suddenly said. He realised that it was Abby from DC but before he could ask her what was going on she had hopped out of the 4WD and followed Callen.

"How did you manage this?" Sam asked as he climbed out of the car and followed them to the back of the car.

"Called in a couple of favours. No more questions." Callen replied as he helped Abby pull some equipment from the back of the car. "Firstly we have to help Abby set up for the experiment."

"Then what?" Sam asked as he helped carry some the stuff that Abby had requested.

"Then we head up." Callen continued as he pulled the last of the boxes from the trunk and placed it on a trolley.

The trio headed over to the planes and while Callen and Abby spoke to a pilot Sam looked at the contraption that was taking them into space. The bigger Airbus A380 would get the smaller one on its back up to a certain height then release it to continue under its own power until it got to the altitude needed.

"All good, Sam?" Callen asked as he came up to his friend.

"Yeah G. Just can't believe it." Sam numbly followed his friend and Abby as they made their way over to the planes.

They got everything settled and strapped in then they taxied. Once they took off, the pilots informed them that it would take about an hour of lazy circles to get to separation height. Which left the three NCIS employees nothing to do but talk.

"Why a Bond map, Sam?" Abby asked.

"My dad. He started it. He loved Bond, had every movie, every book. Knew every little thing about where they shot. We talked about going and seeing them all. We even managed a few as a family. Once he passed away, I kept doing it. Being with the SEAL's helped. As well as working with NICS."

"That's pretty cool, Sam. I'm sorry he passed." Abby looked upset at bringing up sad memories.

"That's ok Abby. Dad knew that the whole space thing would most likely never happen." The big man sighed and looked out a window at the clouds as they passed. "Man, I really wish he was with me now."

Callen suddenly reached over and gave his partner something. "Here partner."

Sam looked at Callen before opening the box. He pulled out a silver frame with a picture of his father in it. He looked at Callen in shock.

"He's with you." He handed him a small wad of sticky plasticine and Sam stuck the picture next to the window. He turned back to his partner, friend and brother.

"Thanks G." He said, tears in his eyes.

"If you guys need to set anything up for this, I suggest you do it now. We separate in fifteen minutes and after that we'll only have exactly twelve minutes of zero gravity." The voice of one of the pilots came over the intercom.

The three of them spent the next few minutes getting everything ready then retook their seats. When they separated and the small crafts engines took over, the noise made all conversation impossible. Callen checked his friends to see how they were doing and any doubts that they were worried dissipated. Sam had his eyes closed and a smile on his lips and he could tell Abby was laughing at the top of her lungs, even though he couldn't hear her. He himself smiled as he enjoyed the ride.

They could tell when they reached altitude as the noise ceased and the vibrations stopped. They quickly went to work. Abby had told the men what she wanted to try and recreate and they knew what to do. Within five minutes, they had most of their answers, and until they started to fall back to Earth, they had nothing to do but look out the window.

"It's so pretty." Abby said as she looked out the window. She then bent down and removed the weight shoes they had worn so that they didn't float. As she drifted off the floor, she let out a giggle. "That is so cool!" She said as she pushed herself away from the wall using a finger.

She looked over at her friends and saw Callen taking several silent pictures of a floating Sam. Knowing that they had a limited time before the weightlessness ended, she took one of the two of them then stuck her phone on the bulkhead, set the timer and floated over to her friends. The three of them smiled as the camera flashed.

Sam was in a slight state of shock. He was floating in space. He looked down and wiggled his toes against nothing. He then looked out the window and saw an endless blanket of bright dots. He found his dad's photo and held it against the portal. "There you go Dad." He said before using the bulkhead to turn back to Callen and smiled as Abby took a photo of the two of them before floating over to join them for another.

Callen watched as Sam simply floated and, after turning the sound off on his phone, took several photos of his friend. He then spent a moment looking out the nearest window and agreed with Abby's statement. It looked amazing. He got lost for a moment in the speckled darkness before Abby called out to him and Sam. He joined Sam as the young woman took a photo then set up her phone to take a photo of the three of them.

A moment later a red light flashed and they started to feel the pull of gravity again. To get the rest of the data Abby required, they quickly finished the experiments. As full gravity took hold, Callen informed the pilots that they had everything they needed and that they were secure.

An hour later they landed back where they started and joined the pilots in a celebratory drink and lunch. It became an even bigger celebration when Abby informed them that they had managed to replicate the evidence and it confirmed what she had suspected.

Darkness was starting creep over the land when the three reached the hotel that Abby was staying at. After having dinner in the restaurant together, Callen and Sam headed back to Sam's place. The taller man opened the door to the sounds of "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" as his kids raced to him.

"Hey kids." Sam said as he bent down and scooped them up. He placed a kiss on their heads before walking into the house with them. "What have you been up to? Hi baby." He said as he came across Michelle in the living room.

"Did you really go to the moon?" His eldest asked quickly followed by her younger brother.

"Did you see the man in the moon?"

"Now how do you know that?" He looked up at his partner who was trying too hard to keep a straight face.

"They overheard Callen telling me about his birthday gift to you." Michelle said as she came over and gave Sam a hug. "How was it honey?"

"Amazing Mich," He looked over at his partner, "How?" He didn't get a chance to finish as Callen held up a hand.

"I thought birthday gifts weren't meant to be repaid."

"Thank you G." Sam said as he went over and gave his best friend a hug.

The next day at work, the others bugged them about where they had been. So that Sam wouldn't get any idea about what was coming, Callen had only told Hetty about the plan. She in turn had simply told the others that Sam and Callen were pursuing a line of investigation.

After not getting an answer, they headed up to ops. When they entered, they were confronted with the sight of a deliriously happy Sam and Callen floating in mid-air on the screen. When the others looked that the two senior agents, they simply smiled and said,

"Crossed off Outer Space"

"From the Bond Map."

Then high fived each other.

The rest of the team realised that they would never get the full story from them, but they did wonder about what looked to be blood splatted all over them.

Abby contacted Callen a few days later saying that what they had managed to do allowed Gibbs to catch and charge the murderer. After congratulating Abby, Callen hung up and looked at the photo near his front door of the three of them. He had sent the photos he had taken to Michelle and had printed a couple for himself. They now sat next to the one he had of the Hannah Family and of the team at a Christmas party the year before. He didn't have many but he was glad that his birthday gift to his friend allowed him to add another to his collection.

Sam looked over at the photos that Callen had grabbed while they were floating in space just hours before. His favourite was the one where he was holding the picture of his father against the window. Callen had been in just the right place to catch him in a reflection. A flare of light had blurred out the frame, making it look like the ghost of his father was next to him, looking into the window. Sam was sure that his father was with him that day. He could feel it. He fingered the photo a moment before joining his wife in bed. As he lay down, Sam quietly whispered, "Happy Birthday Dad."

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><p>Hope this is ok, I kinda knock this up in a handful of hours. Any reviews would be appreciated. I will be getting back to my other stories.<p> 


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